ideas and tips for your cleaning work

Grout Cleaning Methods: Put Simply

If you’ve bought a new house or have an aging home, in most cases you will start to notice the nasty discolouration of your grout. Unfortunately there’s little you can do to prevent the formation of grout grime and discolouration, only be on top it.

It’s important that as soon as your grout begins to show signs of dirt, that you look at some cleaning methods. If you do however leave grime to get to a very grim stage you can still get most of the damage out, you just need to look at more intensive cleaning options. You can also look towards a carpet cleaning company who has specialised services in tile & grout.

You’ll find many people swear by certain techniques for cleaning grout, however it all comes down to your own preferences and situation. Some people want to keep with “green” options, whilst others simply want to get rid of the grime quick. There are options for all endeavors so just look at all your options, and have a clear idea on what results you want to achieve.

Chlorine Bleach and Baking Soda

If you’re looking for an intensive and hard line clean option, chlorine bleach is your answer. Chlorine bleach is a popular choice for most people looking to clean their grouting, due to the consistency of the results, rather than any other factors. When going with this method you should only use it on white grout, as the chlorine bleach is strong, and will take out all colour.

You’ll need a bucket in order to create the mixture so make sure you find one that you can throw out after.

The mixture itself can be argued by many people, but about one cup of baking soda, to 1/2 cup of chlorine bleach should do fine.

You’ll need to mix the ingredients thoroughly with a utensil you can throw out after

In order to clean the grout itself, most affective is the paint brush, but one you’re not going to use later

Scrub through all grout tiles in the area, making sure you don’t miss a spot. You then allow it to sit for about 20 minutes, but for tough staining you may need to leave the mixture on for an hour or so. It’s hard to be precise on processing time because it really depends on the thickness of the grime.

After the processing time has elapsed, rinse with water, and get off any residue with a mop.

Oxygen Bleach

If you want a natural and “green” option to clean your tile and grout, the oxygen bleach mixture will fulfill you needs.

Made from: soda ash, hydrogen peroxide, water

Oxygen bleach comes in two forms, however you should be use powder form to clean grout. You’ll also find due to it’s softer nature, it doesn’t affect the colour of your grout. You will need to mix the powder with water according to the powder instructions, because you’ll find that there is different dilution methods according to how much powder you have.

Once you have your solution processed your next step is pour the solution onto a dry area, however you’ll need to be careful that this water doesn’t hit any carpeted area.

You should continue doing this at a slow pace just to be careful

As with other grout cleaning you then need to get down and scrub, after about half an hour.

Make sure you do small spaces of the area once at a time, just so once you’ve scrubbed you can wipe away the water. Then continue with the rest of the areas at your own pace.

After you’ve completely scrubbed the entire surface area you need to rinse it with clean water

Steam Cleaning

If you’ve tried other methods, steam cleaning is usually the best option, however it can be the most expensive. You can either go out and buy a steam cleaning machine yourself, or rent one from a hardware store, or equipment hire company. Usually if you’re just interested in grout cleaning there’s no need to go out and buy a steam cleaner. However you’ll find that there are many available that we deliver exceptional results. Karcher has an actual tile and grout nozzle, so this is designed to be the easiest option.

Basically with any steam cleaning machine you buy and hire you need to have an appropriate nozzle to provide the detailed clean grout requires. You then simply follow the instructions on the steam cleaning machine, but make sure it gets to the right level of heat.

Safety

When handling any type of oxygen or chlorine bleach its important to wear old clothing, gloves and goggles are very useful also. It’s up to you in the end what you wear, however safety is important.

In the alternative, if you don’t want to invest in your own DIY grout cleaning, you’ll find many cleaning professionals who’ll happily take on the job. If you allow a professional cleaner to undertake this task then you can trust they have industrial strength equipment to get some pretty consistent results.

If you’re on a budget then you should get some quotes and also look at the cost of all materials used for DIY methods, cover all your bases.

Now just make your choice, and make a move, that grout will only gather most grime.